


No One Else Has Noticed

by Warp5Complex_Archivist



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-03-21
Updated: 2006-03-20
Packaged: 2018-08-16 07:12:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 3,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8092540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Warp5Complex_Archivist/pseuds/Warp5Complex_Archivist
Summary: Everyone watches, but no one realizes that everyone else is watching. (06/01/2003)





	1. Captain Archer

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Kylie Lee, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Warp 5 Complex](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Warp_5_Complex), the software of which ceased to be maintained and created a security hazard. To make future maintenance and archive growth easier, I began importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in August 2016. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but I may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Warp 5 Complex collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/Warp5Complex).

  
Author's notes: Spoilers: 1.12 "Silent Enemy," 2.01 "Shockwave 2," 2.03 "Minefield," 2.04 "Dead Stop."  
  
Thanks to my husband, who didn't realize that a conversation about RL friends of our would unleash a plot bunny that just wouldn't go away. LOL.  


* * *

It's quiet on the bridge today. Travis looks to be half asleep, and it doesn't  
really matter. There's not much to see in this stretch of space. Trip came up  
here a bit ago, checked a few things, and then headed back to engineering. I think he's bored too. Everything on the ship is running at peak efficiency at the moment, and we aren't even gearing up for simulations on improving warp  
efficiency right now. T'Pol, of course, looks busy. I wonder if she really is  
busy, or if she's doing busywork? I'll never know...if she was making up work,  
she'd never tell me. There's not much for a captain to do here and now; I suppose I could be in my ready room working on performance reviews or some other paperwork, but right now, it's kind of fascinating just to be on the bridge.

Malcolm and Hoshi. Malcolm is running a few simulations to improve upon the accuracy of the phase cannons. Hoshi is doing some tweaking on the universal translator. Ever so often, one of them will turn and simply look at the other.  
Their eyes never lock, but the simple awareness of one another is striking.

This isn't the first time I've noticed that awareness, either. Reed and Sato have become one of my best teams on the ship. They work together in a way that's just instinctive, that goes well beyond words and defies description. If they weren't both human, I'd wonder if they didn't have a telepathic link between them...they just seem to understand one another that well.

And it's not just their working relationship. Hoshi is one of the few people Malcolm opens up with. And Malcolm is one of the only people on board who Hoshi seems to completely relax around. It's as if she feels safe when he's with her. That would make sense, though. Hoshi is our communications expert, and it's expected that she be the sort of person who others are comfortable talking with. And Malcolm, of course, being the tactical officer, feels that the safety and protection of everyone aboard this ship is his personal responsibility. But still, it goes beyond that as well. Maybe that was part of why I asked Hoshi to see to Malcolm's birthday dinner personally. I just had a feeling that she'd be able to pull it off, to pierce the shell Malcolm seems to keep around himself most of the time.

Something happened between them when the Suliban took over the ship, too. No one said anything about it, though when Trip and Travis praised Hoshi to the stars for facing her claustrophobia to make her way to Malcolm's quarters, Malcolm blushed and stumbled over his words. He agreed, but something happened. I don't know what it may have been, and most likely, I'll never know. Obviously, it didn't affect the outcome, and if the two of them want to keep a private moment private, well, I won't pry. This time. It didn't affect their performance of duty. This time. And, I suspect, after listening to Malcolm lecture me (Me! I'm the captain of this ship, and he lectured ME!)about protocol and duty, that it won't. (Though, when I was thinking over our first few moments in that Romulan minefield, I realized that Malcolm called Hoshi by her first name when he was listing casualties for me. I wonder if even he realized that, that the other casualties were _just_ casualties...and then there was "Hoshi?") Even if the two of them are in a relationship, or if they start one, I think he'll decide to keep their professional relationship professional. After her time teaching at the university, Hoshi will understand that as well. So I don't see a problem.

Eventually, I suspect that my tactical officer and my communications officer will act upon the chemistry between them. At that point, I'll have to officially turn my head and pretend not to notice. But right now, I can enjoy watching them dance around the obvious attraction that's there. I'm enjoying it quite a bit, actually. And despite the temptation to talk to other people about it, captains don't gossip. Anyway, it's like having a secret. No one else has noticed, and I can enjoy the show.


	2. T'Pol

The crew of Enterprise does not react well to what they consider "quiet" shifts. Today's bridge shift is a good example. Captain Archer appears to be lost in thought, Ensign Mayweather looks as if he did not get his required sleep last night, and Commander Tucker appeared on the bridge earlier for no apparent reason, or as he would most probably tell me, "because there's nothin' to do in Engineering, and it ain't logical to fix what ain't broke." The Commander seems to enjoy mentioning logic to me, as if it were an insult. If ever I come to understand his attitudes, I will know that I have spent entirely too much time among humans.

The only two members of the bridge crew who are working constructively, aside from myself, of course, are Ensign Sato and Lieutenant Reed. Both of them are using this uneventful period to work on improving their primary systems. This would, I believe, be more impressive if it did not seem that they were using this work to avoid making eye contact with one another. However, they seem to be using their work as a form of avoidance from their...feelings.

I have been among humans long enough to see when two of them have feelings for one another, and to observe attraction between them. Ensign Sato and Lieutenant Reed are showing obvious signs of this sort of attraction, although they either choose not to admit it, or they simply have not realized it yet. In their case, it is a sensible match, even a logical one. I believe that in time, the two of them will admit their feelings. It will be interesting to see then if they continue their work habits as they do at this time.

It is hard to believe that no one else has noticed how things stand between Ensign Sato and Lieutenant Reed, but possibly my lack of emotional response to their actions has allowed me to notice before the humans aboard Enterprise. For the moment, I am the only one who has noticed, and I believe it should remain this way. As another consideration, to mention it to anyone else at this time, including the captain, would be akin to indulging in gossip, and Vulcans do not gossip.


	3. Travis

Everyone seems to think that I'm the invisible ensign. And, since they can't see me, I must not be able to see or hear anything either. Like today, it's finally our lunch break, and Hoshi and I are sitting here at a table in the mess together. She obviously thinks I don't see the fact that even though she's sitting with me, and we're having a conversation, her mind is on Malcolm. Oh, it's not that obvious. An occasional glance, out of the corner of her eye, or through her lashes. A slight smile when he turns our way, even as she turns back toward me to continue talking. And Malcolm's just as bad. Those quick glances...stealth mode. Please! If that's stealth mode...well, I'm just glad that he's better as an armory officer than he is at this particular covert operation! He's sitting with some of his staff, they're talking. And he's doing the same thing Hoshi's doing. The occasional glance, the subtle awareness. Subtle! Right. Who knows?

Hmm...maybe it's because I grew up as a boomer. I've watched more shipboard romances start than I can count, from the time I was a kid. And it's always a  
little hard at first. I mean, you're caught on this tin can in the middle of nowhere. There's no getting away from the object of your affections if things go bust. (Or would that be boom, seeing as how we're talking about Malcolm here?) Planetside, you can avoid the places that you know will make the two of you uncomfortable. You can ask for a transfer in your job, you can stay away from restaurants or other hangouts that you know the other tends to go to often. You can do the avoidance thing. Out here, there's just not that much privacy. What can you do? Both of them work on the bridge, every day. The mess is about the only place to eat, unless you want to have something in your quarters...and that would get old, fast. Movie night is one of our only diversions. An away mission might give you time away, but with Hoshi and Malcolm being the communications officer and the armory officer, they're just as likely to go on the missions together as to have time away from each other then. There is no getting away if things don't work out.

But you know, somehow, I'm hoping the two of them follow up on whatever's happening. It'd be good for both of them. Maybe I should mention it to Liz Cutler, or the doc next time we're talking about relationships onboard. Or maybe not. No one else has noticed yet, and they'll manage in their own way. Not to mention that Malcolm's a pretty private kind of guy, and if he was angry, I think he'd be scary! But I'm going to keep watching...if nothing else, it'll be interesting to see how long it takes other members of the crew to see it.


	4. Trip

Aww man, they're together in the mess hall again...without being together. How long's it gonna take the two of them, anyway?? Sittin' across the hall from each other, and Malcolm still can't keep his eyes off her. And Hoshi's almost as bad, only she's not quite as obvious about it. That's a woman thing. Or maybe just a Hoshi thing, I'm not sure.

No one else has noticed yet, nobody on this ship keeps that kinda thing quiet! But I was the one on the shuttlepod with Malcolm, when we thought that Enterprise was gone, and everyone on board was dead. We got so blasted, drunk out of our minds! Good Kentucky bourbon, and we drank every bit of the bottle between us. I wasn't sure there for awhile if we were having an Irish wake, if we were just trying to drown the sorrows, or if we were just trying to forget for a little while. We were toasting pretty much the whole crew, when Malcolm brought up T'Pol's...assets. Her "bum," as he put it. Now that ya mention it, T'Pol is nearly as blessed there as she is...well, I'm gettin' off subject now. But at that point, I thought Malcolm had it bad for T'Pol. Then there came the call from Enterprise, when we realized that they were alive and well. I'll never in my life forget the tone of Malcolm's voice as he went from being the angel of death to being one of the happiest men alive. "It's not impossible, it's Hoshi! They're okay, Enterprise is okay, it's Hoshi!!!" Yeah, he was happy to know that the ship was okay. And he was drunk off his gourd. I was too. But just the way he said her name...there was something there. Something he hadn't even admitted to himself yet. But it was there, oh yeah.

And then there was Hoshi when she set up that birthday cake for Malcolm. I happen to know how hard she worked on that, calling everyone imaginable to find out his favorite food. And when that didn't work, she ended up going to the doc and asking for his best guess. As it happened, she struck it lucky. And when Malcolm sounded so pleased with the cake, Hoshi just glowed. Oh, she covered it up a second later, but right in that moment, she smirked just as much as people accuse me of doing! So yeah, there's something there on her end too.

I guess I'm just an ol' softie. I like just watchin' the two of 'em try to ignore it. It won't take long until one or the other bridges the gap that's left, and that's gonna be a beautiful thing to watch. I'd bet my last piece of pecan pie on it.


	5. Phlox

Ah, a quiet day, and another mail call. Hoshi arrived a bit ago with a letter for me from Dr. Lucas. As it happens, when she arrived, she caught me in the middle of analyzing the scans I took of Lieutenant's Reed leg. It's amusing to me, to watch Hoshi stealing glances at the scan, obviously not understanding what she was seeing, but curious nonetheless. Finally, she came out and asked me about it, ensuring that Malcolm's leg was truly healed, and that that ghastly repair station hadn't left any surprises behind. And yes, Malcolm is fine. The look of relief on Hoshi's face when I told her that...well, it came close to rivaling the look on her face when we realized that Travis was alive.

And actually, I don't believe anyone else aboard the ship knew what the first question Malcolm asked was, when he was brought to sickbay to have the spike removed from his leg. It wasn't about the damage to his leg, it wasn't about the damage to the ship, or whether or not we'd escaped our Romulan "friends," as one might have expected from our armory officer. No, Mr. Reed asked me about Hoshi's condition first. After that, he asked about the other casualties, and then about whether or not any Romulan vessels were pursuing. Only then did he ask about his leg. It didn't surprise me that he'd asked about casualties and pursuit first, and frankly, having observed Malcolm and Hoshi previously, the fact that he asked specifically about her condition didn't surprise me either...at least, not much.

Human mating customs do so fascinate me! I wonder, though, if it can be called mating customs when the humans in question avoid the temptation? Malcolm and Hoshi are so obviously interested in one another, but the way they avoid it is enough to make a curious scientist go mad! I have been most interested in watching human mating rituals for quite some time now, but I must say that this case is most confusing. Suppressed attraction would be the best way to put it, I suppose. I believe that perhaps the two of them are clinging too closely to duty to pay attention to what's in front of their faces.

The caring they have for one another is obvious. Their friendship, also, is obvious. Perhaps I could write a paper for publication on Denobula on human interpersonal relationships in an enclosed environment...Hoshi and Malcolm will  
quite likely continue to give me fodder for that paper for quite some time. And, if I'm particularly lucky, by the time I finish it, perhaps my closing statements can be on moving a relationship "to the next level," as humans are so fond of saying.

Either way, the two of them will doubtlessly continue to be fascinating. I'll have to continue to observe, particularly as no one else on the crew seems to be watching this little development.


	6. Porthos

Oooh, I got to go to the big food place today! Master kept me on the leash. Idon't like the leash, but I think Master does that because I get very excited when I'm around so much food. And there was cheese! I know I smelled pizza! Cheese and meat and bread all in one...what could be better?

The smell good people were there. The man with the dark hair who always looks like he smells danger and the woman with the dark hair who looks like she's seen a big wolf sometimes. But when they're around each other, they smell good! They smell like Master when we first came to this new place to live. It was a happy smell. And the man and the lady always smell like that when they're around each other. A happy, happy smell! I wonder why Master doesn't know about it. Silly Master! Everyone can smell that good smell around them, can't they? Maybe I'm the only one who can smell it. Everyone knows that dogs can tell everything by the smells around them, and beagles like me have the best sniffers of all!


	7. Malcolm And Hoshi

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Hoshi asked, her voice just above a whisper.

"Of course! It's not as if I'm going to throw you across the table and attempt to claim my territory," Malcolm replied, teasing her. "It's just dinner, our shift is over, and we're going to eat. We're going together. Captain Archer made it fairly clear to me that he pretty much expected that the crew would fraternize on a mission like this, so we may as well allow the crew to see us  
together."

"As long as you're sure," Hoshi smiled back at him. "You're the one who told me that we just had to keep anyone from noticing that our relationship had gone beyond friendship, remember?"

"Yes, and we'll likely still keep them guessing tonight!" Malcolm grinned in return. "Like I say, I'm not going to throw you across the table. I'm not going to post a notice telling everyone aboard that you are now my property...you wouldn't allow me to anyway! We're going to have dinner. We'll arrive together, and afterward, I'll walk you back to your cabin. I am a gentleman. It's expected that I would do things like that. And if I go into your quarters afterward, well, who's to say that we aren't discussing your phase pistol practice?"

"Oh, I can think of a phase pistol I'd like to practice with," Hoshi practically purred. The innuendo was well worth it...she could see Malcolm's Adam's apple bobbing a bit as he digested that comment.

"Hoshi," he groaned, watching her smirk slightly at him. She was doing it again...purposefully trying to get him off his guard. And from her, it always worked. Even though he hated to admit it, that was one of the things he loved most about her. Hoshi was never predictable! The seemingly shy, nervous ensign kept him on his toes more often that he cared to think.

"I'll be good, Malcolm, I promise," she grinned impishly at him. He looked over at her again, glad to see that she wasn't trying to double talk again...he was quite certain that she'd be very good...again. He groaned again, while that thought led him down the obvious path.

"Malcolm!" she giggled. "I didn't mean THAT!!" Hoshi obviously got a kick out of the fact that his mind had headed straight for the gutter.

Finally, they arrived at the mess. The two of them entered together, not showing any sign of the personal banter that had just occurred. Unfortunately for them, the fates were working against them. As they walked toward the food dispensers, Hoshi slipped on a damp spot where Crewman Williams had spilled a drink earlier. The spot her foot hit was the one and only patch that hadn't been dried thoroughly. Trying to catch her balance, her arms windmilled, and she actually made a rather comical sight for the crewmembers in the mess. With whipcord reflexes, Malcolm reached out to steady her, keeping her from falling.

"Thank you," she breathed softly, happy to not have ended up on her bottom in front of so many of the crew.

"My pleasure," he replied, gently brushing a hand across her jaw. He smiled at her, his emotions suddenly obvious in his eyes.

At a table catacorner to this little scene, Captain Archer, Commander Tucker, and Sub-Commander T'Pol had stopped briefly to speak to Ensign Mayweather and Dr. Phlox, on their way to the captain's private dining room.

"I knew it!" Tucker and Mayweather blurted out, at the same time.

"You did?" each asked the other.

"You too?" Archer's eyes widened.

"Of course," replied Phlox, looking somehow self-satisfied. Trip and Travis simply stared at him.

"It was only logical," T'Pol interjected, raising an eyebrow. All of the men stared at her.

Porthos simply wagged his tail, as the humans, Vulcan, and Denobulan around him tried to absorb the fact that everyone else had noticed...and they'd been right.


End file.
